My research aims at a better understanding of the socio-cultural
identities and interactions of the Cretan regional communities in the
Late Bronze Age. This study is based on an analysis of modes of ceramic
consumption and distribution in the coastal settlements of Eastern Crete
during the Late Minoan IB-IIIB period (1480-1200 BC). First data
collected on the sites of Palaikastro and Sissi are at the outset of
this investigation. These will be compared to similar data available
from other coastal sites of this region: Zakros, Petras, Mochlos,
Myrsini, Pseira, Chrysokamino and Gournia. A theoretical and
methodological basis adapted to the analysis of the modes of consumption
and distribution of ceramics will be proposed, where a typological and
stylistical approach of pottery is preferred. Based on the defined
methodology, an assessment of the analysed data will try to provide and
interpret the recurrences and divergences which characterize the
consumption practices of the different social groups involved. These
circumscribed practices will be replaced in their precise contexts,
including those of pottery exchange and cultural interactions.
